


Fade Into Nightmares

by toast4toast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Held Prisoner, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Some sexy bits, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Violence, Worried!Keith, klance, semi graphic gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:25:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toast4toast/pseuds/toast4toast
Summary: Lance wakes up in a Galra ship, faced by Lotor. In which beatings are used, Keith is worried(and dumb), and Lance is confused





	1. Dumbass

**Author's Note:**

> This is HEAVILY inspired by this comic http://www.bridgeurl.com/comic-inspiration/all so make sure to check that out.

Lance opened his eyes to see a smirking Prince Lotor at a desk a few feet in front of him, “Ah! Sleeping Beauty awakes!” he mused. 

Lance groaned and coughed to the side, straining against the cuffs tying his hands, feet, neck, and midsection to a wall between a small device. 

“Why don’t we see what’s going on inside that head of yours?” Lotor questioned, tapping a few keys on his holo-tablet. The device hummed and clicked to life. A blue beam shot through Lance’s head, causing him to flinch. 

“Hmm, homesick, are we? Feeling like a burden? Not surprising. . . Now, what’s this?” He raised a hand to his mouth dramatically, “a crush?” 

Lance’s head shot up and his eyes widened, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Lotor grinned devilishly and replied, “Well, it seems that blue. . . Wants to make purple. . . ha ha ha!”

“That’s private!” Lance’s neck hurt from pushing against his restraints. Lotor just smirked, he had found a weak spot. 

“Ha ha, I’m aware. Don’t worry. . . It’ll be  _ our secret _ .”

 

~~

 

That’s the last thing Lance could remember. No matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn’t picture any event of capture. Lance took the opportunity to study his surroundings before Lotor came back. 

It was a small room; no windows, one door. The only things Lance could see where Lotor’s desk and the contraption he was caught in. Nothing useful to aid in escape. He would have to rely on his teammates knowing where he was. Lance didn’t usually go off on his own unless Allura or Keith told him to, so there would be suspicion.  _ How was I caught? I was at the castle! And why take  _ me _? I don’t matter. . . I- what would he want with  _ me _ ,  _ Lance thought helplessly, further cementing what Lotor saw earlier.

He hung his head, examining the outfit he was placed in. It was just a simple black outfit, no socks or shoes though. Much different than the large tan jacket, baseball tee, and blue jeans he normally wore.  _ Wait, I was- they  _ changed _ me?! Gross.  _

_ What would Shiro do? I bet they’re worried. This is my fault. I know this is my fault. _

A guard walking through the door interrupted Lance’s thoughts, “food,” he said gruffly. The platter clanged loudly when it was dropped on Lotor’s desk.  _ How the actual hell am I supposed to eat this. What are they going to do, spoon feed me?  _ Lance stole a glance at the food, it looked disgusting anyway. He tried to ignore the pang in his stomach and looked back at his feet. 

The guard took a place by the door but didn’t leave. Almost as if on cue, Lotor walked in, his hands clasped. “Someone must be hungry,” he sang. “How would you feel about something to eat, my pet?”

“Don’t call me a pet,” Lance grimaced.

“What’s that, darling? Speak up.”

“Don’t call me a pet!” He spat in return.

“Now, now, there. That’s no way to speak to a prince!” Lotor lunged at Lance and slammed his head back against the wall. Lance shut his eyes tightly and gasped. Lotor composed himself, brushing his hands against his thighs. “Ready a commander,” he told the guard. “This one needs to be punished. And take away his food”

 

~~

 

After an excruciating few hours, Lance was covered in bruises, cuts, and blood.  _ Coulda been worse,  _ he thought achingly. He knew that Lotor would be in soon to read his thoughts again, he couldn’t let find out anything about Voltron.

He decided to think about the important things now, like the fact that Pidge is a computer genius and is probably triangulating his location now, or that Coran is pacing back and forth, asking the worse ‘What if-’ questions. A pang of sadness rolled over him.  _ This sucks. I hope Hunk makes some actual cookies when I get back. Maybe Pidge will help him read the Altean on the labels.  _ He smiled sadly at the thought. Pidge yelling at Hunk to “put down that container! That’s NOT cinnamon!” 

Lance attempted to stretch a little but was faced with jolts of pain shooting up his body instead. “Damn it!” he hissed. Lotor’s laugh came from nowhere, “don’t make my job  _ too  _ easy, paladin.” His voice buzzed over what Lance could only assume was a PA. 

“A friend will be joining you soon, so I’m coming down to talk with you now.” 

Sadly, Lotor was true to his word. He walked through the door and planted himself in the chair at his desk. 

“Alright, let’s do this. Boring, boring, boring- Are you trying to mess up my censors?” He asked dramatically.  _ This guy and his theatrics-  _

“I heard that! Well, if you won’t be submissive, then I’ll have to do something about that.” He sighed and slowly stood. Lotor faced the tablet toward Lance, “now, who is this?” He sneered, showing Lance a picture of Keith. “None other than the leader of the team, right? How’s he taking that? All of the new power?”

He was baiting Lance. Planting thoughts in his head. Lance pursed his lips and thought about Hunk’s cooking instead. 

“You know, my sensors go deeper than the immediate thoughts, right? So, thinking about cookies isn’t going to stop me from finding- Ah! Here we go!” Lotor’s eyes lit up and he rushed back to his desk. 

“My, my, you really do have. . . powerful. . . feelings for him, don’t you?” Lotor’s delight dissipated as he read what he’d found. Now a slightly disgusted look was plastered across his face.

Lance’s eyes widened, he blushed deeply and clenched his teeth. “What are you looking at?!” He demanded.

“I’ll just. . . move on, then.” Lotor kept swiping through Lance’s thoughts and memories, a harsh silence filled the little room. A few ticks passed before he said anything.

“Well, I’m done for now. I have a new prisoner to attend to.” He took a deep breath in and retrieved something from a guard outside the room. Turning back around, he produced a roll of tape and a ragged cloth.  _ Wait, so tape  _ does  _ exist in space! Ha! I knew it, Allura!  _

“Can’t have you interacting with our new visitor,” He smirked, placing a strip of tape across Lance’s mouth and tying the cloth tightly around his head, covering his eyes. 

“That should do it,”

~~

 

Lance could think about many things right now: Who the prisoner is, what Lotor meant by ‘friend’, Lotor’s first conversation with him. . . other stuff. He decided on the first question,  _ Please,  _ please  _ don’t be Keith. He’d be dumb enough to come here alone, too. Shiro wouldn’t, Hunk wouldn’t- Hell,  _ Pidge  _ wouldn’t. They’d be best off coming together, Keith knows that.  _ Since the only person the prisoner could be was Keith, Lance continued on this thought process.  _ What are we going to do now?! With no Black or Red lion, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura would have to come in alone. I’m not worried about them though. Allura is more than capable, Pidge is great at stealth, and Hunk is, well, Hunk.  _

Lance sighed deeply through his nose as he heard the door open again. This time there were many people. At least three guards on foot, but the sound of a struggle suggested that Keith was here as well.  _ Dumbass _ . 

The guards walked over to the same wall Lance was on, but they were to his left.  _ So there  _ is  _ more in this room. How many devices are there? Does Lotor plan on capturing the whole team? Oh, God. _

After the struggle subsided, and shackles were in place, the guards huffed and left the room. Lotor walked in after them, of course. “Hello, paladin. Coming here alone was not the smartest move,”  _ knew it. _

“Where’s Lance?! Tell me where he is!!” Keith yelled. Lance screamed through the tape on his mouth. Though muffled, it was loud enough for Keith to hear. His eyes widened, “Lance? Lance! Are you okay?” He sounded panicked, unusual for him. 

“Well,” Lotor walked over to Lance, “you should not have done that.” He voice sounded dark and filled with threat.  _ Oh God, oh God, oh God.  _

“No! Don’t you dare touch him! I swear, if you touch him I’ll kill you!” Keith shouted. Sadly, nothing but empty threats at the moment. There was nothing Keith could do to stop Lotor. He slammed his fist into Lance’s face, earning an awful cry from Lance. 

“Stop it! You son of a bitch! Stop it!” Keith’s threats were getting more desperate with each punch.  _ What’s going on with him? _ Soon Lance was reduced to a crying, bleeding mess. The blood flowing from his nose dripped over his mouth and down his neck, stopping where the cloth on his shirt met skin.

Keith kept yelling threats and insults, his voice hoarse from screeching. Lotor walked back to Keith, but instead of beating him, too, Lotor simply grabbed Keith’s jaw and shoved up so that he was looking Lotor straight in the eye.

“Try anything,” he began, panting, “and he gets it.” When Keith started sputtering, Lotor released him and rubbed his hands on a cloth he produced from his waistband, also rubbing at the spot of blood on his cheek.

“Anyway, that’s not why I came here. You have some information that I need, and since you’re here as well, I might as well seize the opportunity! I had a few little chats with Lancey over there and learned some  _ interesting  _ things you may wish to know.” In response to Lotor’s proposition, Lance started making panicked mumbles, as if to say, “don’t! Don’t tell him!” Keith didn’t know that, of course, but Lotor was fully aware of what he was doing.

“Now, Lance. It’s not  _ that  _ bad! I’m sure that Keith would just  _ love  _ to know what I learned from you! Am I right, Keith?” 

“No! Stop it! I trust Lance. I don’t want to know!” Lotor huffed at Keith’s protest.  _ That’s a first.  _ He walked back to his desk and fiddled with, yet another, device. 

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice!” Lotor said, feigning. Keith scoffed at his theatrics and rolled his eyes. 

Suddenly, a screeching noise erupted from the walls around them. Keith shouted, “what’s happening?!”

Lotor simply laughed, “Have you never seen a moving room before?”  _ What? The room is shifting?! But, I’m not moving?  _ A few moments later, the room came to a halt along with the screeching. Keith’s device had moved along a track and was now facing Lance’s.

Lance heard Keith gasp. Lotor took the pleasure of ripping the tape off of Lance’s mouth but keeping the blindfold on. “What? What happened?” Lance’s voice was scratchy and much lower than it normally was. He was tired, he’d been put through so much strain. 

“I believe Keith was gasping at how awful your gorgeous face looks right now,” Lotor mused, speaking for Keith. 

“No! That’s not-”

“What? Is he not gorgeous?” Lotor pouted. Lance blushed confusedly. Keith’s heart rate sped up as he tried to formulate a response that Lotor couldn’t pick apart. “I was just- What he did to you. . . it’s-”

“Bad? Yeah, Keith. You think I’d know that. Especially since  _ I’m  _ the one with the blood streams down my neck.” Keith opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t think of any combination of words that could possibly make this situation better. 

“Well! This whole ordeal has been fun, but I really need to know what’s in that head of yours, Keith!” Lotor reminded, clapping his hands together. Lotor walked back to his desk - which was now to Lance’s right - and started up the device that Keith was in. 

“It was foolish of you to come here, paladin. There’s no way you could have found and saved Lance.” Keith responded by spitting in the general direction of Lotor but failing to make contact. 

Lotor huffed and walked back to Keith, abandoning the idea of reading his thoughts. Before Keith could react, a loud smack resonated through the room. Keith let out a loud, shaky breath.

“Keith?!” Lance shouted worriedly. 

“Lance. Lance, it’s okay! I’m fine. Wait. . . Lance! Allura justs needs you to-” Lotor smacked Keith again to stop him from talking.

“No one can help you,” He cackled. He grabbed the tablet off the desk and read the projections. 

“Huh, I did  _ not  _ see that coming.” Lotor furrowed his brow and stood in front of Keith. “Is this true?” And quiet enough for just Keith to hear, “a question of sexuality?” Keith’s eyes shot open wide and he strained against his cuffs, hard, leaving awful red marks on his pale skin. Lance bit his lip, wondering what Lotor asked Keith. 

“That’s private! Get out of my thoughts!”

“Funny, Lance said the  _ same thing _ .”


	2. This Can't Be Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which secrets are uncovered, Lance confesses, and Keith swears to return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're at about 60 hits and I was bored, so here is some more :D

Keith’s anger quickly turned to confusion as he processed what Lotor had just said. “So, this may be a bad time, but. . . Uh. . . Can you take my blindfold off?” Lance asked slowly. Lotor just snickered. He went back to looking through Keith’s knowledge of Voltron. He was looking for a while, searching through every memory Keith had with Voltron. After reading through one of the memories, his hand flinched back and his mouth curled into a grimace. 

“Acxa! Here. Now.” Lotor commanded. Footsteps echoed down the hallway and the multicolored commander popped her head through the door.

“Ya? Oh! The paladins! What can I do for you, Prince?” Acxa asked, eyeing the paladins. Lotor briskly walked to Acxa and told her what he had found. Her face twisted in confusion. “But- Are you sure? That can’t be. He has no-” Lotor quickly silenced her.

“We must do something about this. I do not need any more information from the leader. Begin precautionary measures.” She stayed for a moment, looking from Keith to Lotor. Her face was filled with surprise and confusion.

“Now Acxa!” Lotor snapped after she hadn’t moved. She jumped and ran from the room. 

Lotor turned back to the two, a crazed look in his eyes. He huffed and started to exit.

“Hey, what’s going on? You can’t leave us here!” Lance tried, only to be met with a heavy scoff.

“I can do whatever I want with you. Do not underestimate me.”

“I could say the same about our team, assface.” Keith shot back.  _ Oh, now you’ve done it _ . 

Lotor’s gaze darkened, “If only you knew what’s going to happen to you.” Dread filled Lance immediately.  _ What’s he going to do to Keith?! _

Keith didn’t seem worried; in fact, he laughed. It was an annoyed and unassuming laugh. 

When Keith got himself stuck in a bad situation he quickly became ignorant to worse things that could happen. He only focused on what he could immediately do to help the situation. 

“Wait,” Lance realized with a start, “why don’t you just kill us now? Why are we still alive?!” After hearing that question, Keith’s smugness quickly dissipated. Lotor’s quips had ceased. He was no longer making threats or beating the paladins.  _ What had he seen on that tablet? What secret of Keith’s was so shocking that it caused Lotor to freak out. But more importantly, what does he have planned for us… _

 

_ ~~ _

 

A row of guards filed into the room, six in total. Half of the guards went for Keith, half for Lance. They removed Keith and Lance from their walls and attached shackles to their arms and legs. One of the guards decided that Lance should finally get to see again and removed the blindfold. After being taken down, the guards didn’t help Lance stand. Having to stand on his own feet for the first time in what felt like a week made him fall to his knees.

Thinking the action was from a guard’s blow, Keith protested, “Don’t hurt him!” Keith’s own guards smacked him in return. Quickly realizing that protesting would do nothing but get him hurt, Keith stopped.

After getting used to walking, Lance was up. Each paladin had a guard to their left, right, and behind. Lance was slightly trailing behind Keith and his escorts. Lance looked around. The halls were lined with Galra soldiers and commanders. Even if they had managed to escape their immediate captors, they’d have no chance at getting anywhere.  _ What makes us so special? Why do we have an audience? _

Lance had a massive headache from all of Lotor’s punches, and the harsh lights weren’t helping. He must’ve looked like shit. Whenever he moved his face, a flake of dried blood floated away from him.  _ Damn, he really messed me up. At least Keith is okay. No, I can’t think like that. Not only is it a bad time, but we’re in a  _ Galra ship _ commanded by _ Lotor.  _ I have to remember to yell at him when we get back. _

Lance was shaken from his thoughts when they all stopped in front of a large round door. “What’s this?” Lance tried, looking over to Keith. He had already hung his head, black hair covering his face. 

“It’s an airlock,” Keith responded quietly. Lance quickly looked at Lotor from Keith, but before he could say anything, he was pushed to the floor by the guards. The same had been done to Keith. 

“Now, I’ve gotten enough information from the smart one, I need to keep the confused one for collateral,” Lotor stated simply. The guards surrounding Keith pulled him back up and shoved him through another door.  _ Keith didn’t protest. What was his plan?! He had to have a plan, he always had a plan. Ugh, I sound like a schoolgirl. _

Lotor tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the guards to bring Keith back. Lance began to realize what was happening.  _ He found out that Keith was Galra. . . He’s going to throw him into space. . _ Lance slumped against the floor with his hands under his forehead and his knees tucked into his chest.  _ This can’t be happening. Lotor wouldn’t do this, would he? Well, I guess he is. _

Keith was brought back to the rest of the group dressed in his space suit, the jetpack was ripped off. Lotor was going to dump Keith in space with no hope of survival. And he was going to make Lance watch.  _ Why is he in a space suit? Doesn’t he know that the lions can come help their- oh no. Lotor knows that the- He’s sending Keith out in his suit, just to be rescued by his lion. He’s going to go back to the castle, tell them about me, and try to come back. Oh, God. It’s all a trap. _

“Before you toss him out, I have a proposition.” The guards behind Lance pulled him up so he was standing again. “If you tell him, we can strike a deal. If not,” Lotor dragged his thumb across his neck.  _ He- what? What type of deal is that? This is bullshit! I have to tell him the plan. _

“What the hell type of deal is that?”

“I’m curious. How much do you care about Keith?” Keith raised his head a little and stole a confused glance at Lance. 

“I- No, Keith. I know his plan, you can’t go back to the castle!”

The guards aimed their guns at Lance’s head. 

“That’s not what I said, Lancey. Tell him what I know or he gets it.

“He means to let you live! Don’t bring the team here!” A guard planted his boot on Lance’s back and pushed down. If anything, Keith was more confused than he was a bit ago.

Lotor got close to Lance’s ear and whispered one more thing, “Tell him now, or the suit comes off, and he goes out.” He was surprisingly calm for someone not getting his way.

Even though Lance’s face was smashed against the floor he projected a less than confident smile and winked at Keith, “you know what I love more than memes? You.”

“What? Lance, what does that even mean?”  _ Come on, Keith. Don’t be stupid. _

“Do you want to see how fast I can climb a tree? I’ll show you when we get out of here.” This time Lance tried a wink, hoping that Lotor would accept this.

“You’re out of this world, and I would know. . .” He was faltering, this sucked. 

“For quiz- Lance, we’re literally in space. Cut the pick-up lines, what are you trying to say?!” 

“Yes, Lance, be direct,” Lotor warned. 

Lance sighed,  _ God I wish that these were different circumstances.  _ “Fine, ilikeyou.” He rushed his words,  _ did he hear that?  _

“Uhh, a little slower there, Lance. You know I can’t understand you when you talk fast.”

“Does that count, Lotor? I said it. Let him go.”  _ Fingers crossed, fingers crossed, fingers crossed. _

“Nope. This is getting old quick, hurry up or I’ll throw you out too.”  _ That’s actually a favorable option- Wait, nevermind. I don’t have my suit with me. Crap. _

“Keith,”  _ Just focus on how great his face is. He has a great face. Suuuper great face.  _ “I like you.” 

“Lance, I do- We’ll talk about this later.”

Lotor nodded his head at the guard who still had his boot on Lance’s back. Quicker than Keith could react, Lance was knocked out and dragged away.

 

~~

 

“We’ll talk about this later.” That was the last thing that Keith said to me. I couldn’t help but replay the moment over and over in my head, having to say my feelings in front of the  _ Galra _ .  _ Stupid Prince Lotor. _ I was sure that the lion had come for him by now.  _ Keith is safe, he’s figuring out a way to fix this shit. The mess that  _ I  _ made. It’s all my fault. This whole thing is because of me. Why did I have to go catching feelings!  _ I started crying from the weight of it all.  _ The last thing I was doing was- Wait. I was playing with the little creatures from that planet that Pidge was stuck on! Oh yeah! How did I forget that. . . That means that Lotor has the red lion. Wait, Ugh so many questions, why did Keith come looking for me? How long have I been gone? I was probably gone so long that they got worried. _

I had been moved to a new room; it was even smaller than the first. I had a bed though. Not that it was comfortable, my wrists and ankles were shackled to the sides. 

I was still disgusting, covered with dried blood. I bet that little streaks cut through the blood from the tears. I had never cried for someone. I was just tired. That’s it, it wasn’t that Keith had great hair or was cute when he smiled. I was just. . . tired. Well, I should probably sleep then. If I'm so. . . tired.

I didn’t hear from Lotor again for the rest of the day. 

 

~~

 

“We’ll talk about this later.” That was the last thing I said to Lance. I regret being so blunt. An image of Lance being knocked out and pulled away replayed in my mind. _ I had been hoping for him to say something for so long, and now he’s still stuck. Damn it! This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone alone.  _ They had all told me not to. Shiro said that it was the worst idea. Hunk just rolled his eyes. Pidge’s comment hurt the most though. When she thought I wasn’t listening, she said to Hunk, “I knew he liked Lance, but is he really dumb enough to go into a Galra ship under control of Lotor?”  _ Why does she think that I like him? I only get defensive when he’s around people that could hurt him, it’s not like- Oh quiznak. That means that I like him.  _

I had nothing else to do, I was just floating through space, running out of oxygen. Now was a better time than any to think about how much I’d screwed up. I’d gone alone, I let my feelings guide me, I ruined everything. . .

_ I’m sorry, Lance. I do care, Really.  _

I was still floating through space, though. Trying to put as much distance between myself and the ship as I could. Reducing the risk of them seeing the lion. It took a long time without a jetpack. 

Thinking back to what Lance was saying, I remembered that he said Lotor was planning something. It had to be a trap, right? I’ll be sure to tell Shiro and the others when I get back.  _ If  _ I get back. 

I’m so glad that I told the lion to go back to the castle after I got to the Galra ship. If I hadn’t, who knows what Lotor would have done with it.

Satisfied with my distance from the Galra ship, I reached out to the Black Lion. 

_ Come on, I need some help. Please help.  _ I didn’t know how far I was from the castle, so I waited. I kept calling out, hoping that something would happen. 

_ What am I doing, this isn’t going to work,  _ I thought, covering my face with my hands.  _ I’m going to die out here. The Lion isn’t going to come and I’m going to die.  _

When I took my hands away from my face, the Black Lion was right there.  _ Well that’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?  _

I climbed inside and sat back in the seat. “So glad you went back to the castle.” I had to say it again, just for good measure.

“Okay, boy. We’re going back to the castle.”

 

~~

 

“Alright, this time we’re going to make a  _ plan _ ,” Shiro said, making a point of looking at Keith, who had a few bruises from Lotor still on his cheeks.

“Since Lance is the one being saved, you won’t have the red lion on your side. This means that you won’t be able to form Voltron. Keith, you need to be sure of what you’re getting into. Don’t lead with anger. I know that Lance is a teammate and that’s important, but if we want to get him out of there without hurting him further, you need to be careful.” I nodded solemnly in response. 

I had left out the parts about Lance confessing his feelings. They didn’t need to know that. 

But this was good. They were going back for Lance- But not until they could figure out a way to find Lance, get in, and get out without losing anyone.  _ This is going to take a while, but I swear I’m not going to rest until Lance is back here safe. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to give this Kudos so I know to keep writing. More to come tomorrow regardless :) Sorry for the awful change in perspective


	3. I Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they make a plan, go back for Lance, and prepare for the worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is reading :) We're at about 90 hits. This chapter switches between Keith and Lance's perspective.

It was settled. Pidge would hack the systems, shutting down all power, and figuring out what room Lance was in. Coran would take us 6 vargas from the ship. Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and I would leave the castle in our lions, heading for the ship. We’d land our lions on the planet closest to the ship and jet over. We’d head for Lance’s room, taking out any live guards on the way. If Lance was fine we’d head over to the hangar and retrieve the Red Lion. If not, then I’d try to tell it to come back to the castle with us. Shiro would make sure everyone got on and would prepare the med deck for Lance, thinking that Lance would not be fine and would have extensive injuries. Lotor knew we were coming even before we made the plan, so we weren’t expecting things to go too well. 

Oh how wrong we were.

 

We started out doing everything as planned. Pidge shut the power off and located Lance, we stopped 6 vargas from the ship, we left on our lions, landed on the planet, jetted over and headed for Lance. What we weren’t expecting was how  _ easy  _ it would be. 

When we got to the hallway that Lance’s room was in, I told everyone to stay by an entrance. Hunk stayed at the beginning of the hall, Allura at the end, and Pidge stayed outside the door. 

Everyone was ready for a fight. 

I went into Lance’s room by myself, ready to call for Pidge if something went bad. I was prepared for anything. But I guess anything isn’t  _ every _ thing. 

_ No one _ could have been prepared for what was behind that door.

 

_ ~~ _

 

After not hearing from Lotor for a day, I was starting to get suspicious. . . and hungry.  _ How long  _ has _ it been since I’ve eaten? Oh, man I’m going to miss my favorite program if I keep thinking about other stuff! I should get back to the exciting  _ ‘see how many ceiling squares you can count before your brain turns to mush and you fall asleep’  _ show that I so desperately love.  _

_ Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 9- _ I stopped counting when I heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door.  _ Man, I lost count. _

The door opened and Lotor finally showed his face, Acxa and Ezor in tow. Ezor was toying with. . . the thing that came out of her head. Acxa simply glared, and Lotor was smirking as usual. 

“Uncuff him,” Lotor ordered, not sparing a second. 

Once up, I was feeling more like my usual self and attempted a joke, “So, where are we going today? The waterpark? Oh please be the water park! I loove the water-” 

I was cut short when Ezor slammed me against a wall and drew a knife to my throat so fast I hadn’t had a chance to blink. 

“Stand down, not yet,” Lotor replied, checking his nails. Ezor slowly stepped back, still keeping the knife aimed at me threateningly. They put handcuffs back on me and started walking from the room.

Since I was forced to play the waiting game, I might as well make the most of it. I looked around and checked every open door and possible hallway. Just in case shit hits the fan during The Great Lance Rescue.  _ I hope that they’re still planning to do that. They wouldn’t leave me here right? They don’t need me though, Shiro can go back to the Black Lion and Keith can return to the Red. With Allura in Blue they don’t need me anymore. _

We walked for a while, turning down a hallway here, opening a door to another hallway there.  _ This place has a lot of hallways. Are they going to be able to find me in this maze? If they come. . . _

We finally entered a small room a few dobashes later. This one had a chair and a table covered with a cloth.  _ Oh no, I’ve seen enough movies to know that this is when the main character gets the absolute crap kicked out of him.  _

“Torture, huh? What for? I thought you had that fancy mind-reading device.” I was shaking now, unable to hide my fear. 

“Some things can’t be uncovered by technology, also this isn’t for information.This is a warning. We know everything about you now. Every battle, every realization, every conversation. We know your friends, they will come for you, break you out, and hit us with everything they’ve got. This is to let them know that no matter what, we will have broken you. You will be a permanent reminder to them what happens when a paladin of Voltron gets captured by the Galra.”

“Okay, great monologue, but what about Keith? You kinda just sent him into space to be rescued.”  

“Yes, well. Their mission wouldn’t be as interesting unless the leader was fueled by emotion, now would it? Knowing your true feelings was the cherry on top. Being able to drive him with a crush will be even more devastating when he finds you. You’ll have to recover for a while, in that time Keith will barely leave your side. Your defences will be down, you won’t be prepared.” Lotor finished with an evil laugh.  _ Wait, I  _ will  _ recover, I’ll tell them what he just told me and we’ll strike back.  _

“What about the whole ‘I’ll get better’ thing? I’ll just say what you said.”

“Hmm, yes. But will it be in time? That’s enough chit-chat for now. It’s time for business.” 

Acxa shoved me over to the chair and bolted my legs, hands, and neck down.  _ Lot’s of handcuffs here. . . _ I gulped and prepared for something truly awful. 

“Well, I’d love to stay and do this myself, but I’m sure that you two are more than capable,” Lotor stated. Ezor and Acxa nodded curtly, and Lotor left.  _ Let’s do this, then.  _

They removed the cloth from the table, producing a number of very strange, yet very terrifying weapons.

Acxa went first, choosing a short purple blade from the selection. It couldn’t have been longer than my pinky finger. I scoffed ignorantly, not expecting much from the knife. 

Noticing my response to her choice, Acxa plunged the blade into my shoulder, earning an awful noise from me. I didn’t know pain like this was possible.  _ Don’t underestimate small blades, don’t do it!!  _ If this was round one, I was even more terrified of what was next. 

They continued like this, starting with the innocent-looking weapons and moving further up, until every weapon had been covered with blood.  _ How am I even still conscious? That’s a lot of blood, I didn’t know people had that much blood. . . _

Everything hurt, thoughts were swimming through my head. How could this be happening? 

I didn’t think a patch of skin was left unscathed. They only left my hair alone. I guess they were going for physical pain over emotional pain.

I was tired of screaming. My throat was raw. I didn’t know how much more I could take. It must have been vargas since they started. 

Ezor threw her last choice on the ground and nodded to Acxa.  _ This was it, no more. Good.  _ They looked at me and smirked. I let my head roll forward against the restraint and hang there. 

One of them started to uncuff me. 

“They’re coming. Keith’s coming. Just wait.” I tried to sound menacing, but instead it came out like a whisper. They just laughed and continued undoing the cuffs. After they were done, I was shoved onto the ground and left there. Too tired to move, too exhausted to even flinch, I stayed there. Waiting, hoping that someone would help.

 

~~

 

I stifled a gasp and lunged forward, kneeling next to Lance on the ground. “Oh, Lance. What did they do to you.” Lance was lying on his stomach, his hands at his sides, surrounded by a pool of his blood. I looked around at the room, the chair in the middle was also coated in blood, same with the various weapons strewn about. There were so many that I couldn’t fathom how he’s managed to stay alive.  _ Wait, is he alive?!  _ I held my hand up to his neck for a pulse. It was barely there.  _ Oh, good _ . _ How did he manage all of that? _

I turned my attention back to Lance when he murmured something unconsciously, “ _ Keith’sss coming, juss you wait. He’ll beee here. He knowss that I lovve hhhim.”  _

That just about broke my heart. I tried to shake the image of Lance holding out through being tortured just so he’d be alive when I found him. I turned him over, revealing even more wounds. 

Multiple gashes covered his face, neck, arms - everywhere, really. The black outfit he had been wearing was in shreds, hinting at what the damage would look like once removed.

_ I can’t lift him alone, I don’t know if I can lift him with help. He needs to be okay.  _ I cried for Pidge, resting Lance’s head in my lap. 

Pidge burst through the door, her bayard ready. She was shocked to see that there was no fight, but rather the aftermath of something much worse. 

“Keith, holy quiznak! What happened?!” She was trembling. All of the blood drained from her face.

“I- I’m not sure yet, we just need to get him back to the castle.” I stood and stepped back holding one of my hands up to my mouth, pulling it back when I realized it was covered in blood too. 

Pidge nodded her head furiously. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can’t disagree with that statement.” She pushed her glasses up and ran to get the others. I kept looking down at Lance, who was now facing up.  _ This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have come alone. I shouldn’t have. I knew I’d be a bad leader.  _ Tears welled up in my eyes but Hunk came running in before they fell, “Step aside, I got this.” He said, determined. he scooped Lance bridal-style up and started running out of the room. 

“Hunk wait! We have to be care-” I started, wiping my eyes with my shirt.

“Nope, best friend isn’t dying today. Get a move on or you’re staying here.” I ran after Hunk and hoped that Pidge would inform Allura on what was happening, they caught up quickly. 

 

Allura peaked into the hangar, looking for any signs of guards. Surprisingly, no one was there.  _ This has to be a trap. There’s no way they’d let us just take the Red Lion. That’s what Lance was saying when I got thrown into space. “Don’t bring the team here!” He said. I hope he’s wrong.  _

Allura signaled for us to follow. We all ran across the deck of the hangar to the Red Lion. I looked up at it helplessly, “Red, please. Lance needs to get back to the cas-” It’s mouth opened immediately. Hunk ran up and put Lance on the floor by the controls. “Don’t want to get blood on the chair.” He responded when we looked at him quizzically. 

Once we were out, the lion flew out the large door toward the castle.  _ Lance will be okay.  _

“Well, we need to get out of here too. I’m not taking any more chances today.” I said. Everybody nodded in agreement. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” I put my helmet back on and jetted back to the planet where we left our lions. 

Successfully making it to the lions unharmed, we took the final trip to the castle. The rescue may be complete, but we have a hell of a lot more to do when we get back.

 

~~

 

Shiro had already set Lance up in a healing pod when we got back. He had already been changed into the white uniform.  _ I wonder how bad it was. Since he had been semi-conscious at the ship, he must be exhausted.  _

He looked so peaceful despite the long cuts that were visible on his face and hands. 

It was late so everybody had already gone to their rooms. I stayed. After a few ticks of just staring, Shiro walked up behind me and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s not your fault. I know that that’s the only thing going through your head right now, but it’s not.” He sighed and walked closer to the pod. “You should go get some rest. You haven’t slept since  _ you  _ were captured.” I nodded and began to leave, regretting not being able to stay longer.

“Thanks, Shiro. Let me know if anything happens.” 

“Of course. I know that this team means a lot to you. Don’t worry too much, though. He’ll be fine.”  _ Yeah, He’ll just be great. After all of that physical and emotional abuse. Sure he will, Shiro.  _

I was too tired to fight with him. 

As I was walking back to my room, Pidge showed up.  _ Please go away, Pidge. I don’t feel like talking about this.  _ As if she had read my mind, she talked first.

“I’m not going away. You don’t have to talk, I just need to say something.” I ran my hands through my hair and fixed the velcro on my gloves. She looked at me for a tick, waiting for my answer. 

“Yeah, okay.” My voice was strained.  _ This is why you don’t catch feelings. I bet this would be so much easier if he hadn’t- If I didn’t- I don’t know who’s fault it is. He just- Ugh. _

Pidge bit at the inside of her lip, thinking about the best way to go about her thoughts. “Lance- He’ll be fine. I know you know that, but you have to hear it. I don’t know what exactly happened on that ship, but it feels like whatever it was was confusing for you. When you were telling us what happened, it felt like you left out some major points. You don’t need to tell me, but just know that I’m here if you need to talk to someone other than Shiro. He can be a bit expectant at times. Get some rest, Keith.” She gave me a reassuring smile before heading back down the hallway to her room. I went to mine and sat down on the bed, cradling my head in my hands.  _ So much happened. At the airlock Lance said that he liked me, he had to have just meant as a friend, right? But what about when- he said. . . He . . .  _ loves  _ me. Not only that but- but he thought I knew? I guess I haven’t been to observant lately. I should have gone with him to that trash planet _ .  _ Pidge wanted to go too, I’m glad she didn’t.  _ As I was thinking, I remembered that there were no guards in the hangar, no guards on the way to the hangar, and very few over all. 

With a start, I stood up and ran to where Coran would be.

“Coran! Wake up! We’re in trouble!” I banged on his door. 

He walked out of his room wearing a robe, “What is it, Keith? To be a gorgeous man like me, you need beauty sleep.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but listen. . .” I told him about my realization. He followed along asking few questions here and there. 

“We must be on high defense, then. Looks like I’ll have to deal with having dark circles. Go tell Shiro what you told me. He needs to know too.”

Coran retreated back inside his room, I assume to get changed, so I ran back to the med deck to see if Shiro was still there. 

When I got there, he was asleep. He had brought a chair over to Lance’s pod and was snoring. 

“Shiro, wake up. I have a feeling that Lotor is planning something. Lance was just to throw us off our game. We need to be ready for an attack.”

Shiro rubbed his eyes, trying to process what I’d just told him. 

“You can’t be- that actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah, what should we do? I don’t-” I looked up at Lance. “We can’t make any mistakes. What-”

“Keith?” Shiro interrupted.

“What? I just don’t know how we’re-”

“Keith. Listen to me.”

I stopped asking questions and looked at Shiro.

“Go to sleep.”

“What?! But we’re in danger! If we let our guard down then we’ll be-”

“Yeah, Coran and I have that. But right now you’re not helping anything. You need to be well rested if you want to handle this well.” 

His words stung, but it was true. If I wanted to keep the castle safe I needed to be at the top of my game. If that meant sleeping. . .

“Okay, you go find Coran. I’ll go off to bed.”

Shiro nodded and headed off in the direction of the front of the castle. I stayed for a bit, watching over Lance.  _ I promise that this won’t happen again. I’ll be better, I promise.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to leave comments or kudos if you like this series! Part 4 may be up later today.


	4. Hotter Than Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith is impatient, Lance wakes up, and happy things happen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad that people like this series. I went back for some previous details and found some errors that I fixed. Nothing major, just a few missing or misspelled words.

We took every precaution. Recharging every system, checking for any possible errors. Nothing was overlooked. 

In the event that Lotor attacked, we needed to be ready. 

I distanced myself from Lance.  _ It’s my fault he’s in that thing. I can’t keep looking at the damage  _ I _ caused. _

Instead, I focused on what could be done to keep the castle and everybody inside it safe. If we were lucky, Lotor would take a while to act on the information he gained.

After defeating Zarkon, we didn’t really have any big plans. The only thing we know about Lotor and his army is that he has a ship made out of the same material Voltron was made out of. He’ll use that ship with Voltron whenever he has the chance to. 

We successfully destroyed his cargo ship that carried a piece of the teladuv, but that ship was still out there. It was too fast for us to go after, so I need Lance to be better before we take it on. 

The Red Lion is the fastest and most agile, that’s the only way we can hope to take it down. Without Lance, we’d be too slow to catch up. 

“How long will it take for him to get better?”

“Keith, that’s a question that I cannot answer! The healing pods will keep going until the body inside is completely healed. Based on how injured Lance was when he came back, I’d say he only needs a few vargas at the very least.”  _ Coran knows more about this stuff than I could hope to, I shouldn’t push. _

“But it’s already been a quintent! We need him to take down the ship Lotor has! Without Lance-”

“Yes, that is true. But, Keith, you have to keep in mind that a lot of strain was placed on Lance’s body during that time. As you said, he was still semi-conscious when you found him. Staying even slightly awake at that point had to have been a very difficult thing to do. I can only imagine what his motivation was.” Coran shook his head gently, a sad look in his eyes.

“I’m sure he’ll be better very soon. The best thing you can do for him right now is make a spectacular plan to get that ship. And wait, I’m sure you could spare some time to sit with him.” He put down the little cube he was holding and walked out of the room. 

“Come on Lance, wake up. When I said we’d talk later, I meant it. Wake up. . .” I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the pod door, staring down at Lance’s feet. “You need to wake up,” I whispered, not that he could hear any of this. I guess I was saying it more for myself. 

I heard slow footsteps coming up behind me. “Hello, Keith.”  _ Allura.  _ “I just came to track his progress. How are you?” She asked, moving to my right to fiddle with some controls. 

“How is he? He should be able to come out now, right?” I ignored her question. It didn’t matter how I was right now. Nothing would be okay until Lance was better. 

Allura let out a small sigh. “Keith, we went over this last time he was in here.”

“Yeah, I know. Aren’t things different this time? We need to-”

“Keith!” Allura snapped, suddenly mildly angry. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on out here. The healing pod is the fastest way he can get better. If you want to take him out now, he’s still be unconscious. His wounds would take longer to heal. Just trust me, okay?” She shook her head, her anger dissipating. 

“Regardless, he should be better in a few vargas. Now, stop being so impatient. I need to call everyone here. We must discuss some events.”

I nodded my head, that was a good plan. 

 

~~

 

I crossed my arms and looked at the ground. It didn’t matter what they were talking about, I know what’s going to happen if Lotor attacks before Lance gets better. My input doesn’t matter, Shiro should be doing this anyway. 

Pidge slowly made her way over to me from her spot next to Hunk. “You know, you don’t gain anything from misery. No matter how cute Lance may think your pout is, it’s not getting us anywhere.”  _ That was low, how could Lance possibly think my pout- ugh, nevermind.  _ I could tell she was annoyed with me. I’ve been doing everything wrong. Messing everything up. I hope the others know that too. They deserve to know that their  _ leader  _ has given up hope. I don’t have any reason to hope. 

“You know, Keith. This is how it feels to take a fall. Just because your favorite eye candy is hurt doesn’t mean you get to drag us down with you. I get that you feel like crap, but we all do. Don’t you get that? You’re not the only person on this freaking ship who cares about Lance. You should know that, jackass.” She walked back to Hunk’s side and continued to listen to Shiro and Allura’s plans. 

“. . .that Lotor plans to kick us while we’re down. I don’t know what he plans to target, or how he wishes to execute those plans, but we know that he won’t wait for Lance to get better. This probably means that we should expect an attack today. We’ll talk more about possible plans later. We have already made sure that precautionary measures have been taken. Everyone should go get something to eat.” Shiro finished his lecture and looked over to Allura to see if she wanted to add anything. When she didn’t continue, Shiro dismissed us. 

_ What a perfect way to end a sad talk, go eat! Like that’ll do anything.  _

When I got to the kitchen, Hunk and Pidge were already messing with ingredients. Hunk dumped a box of something and water into a pot. Whatever was in the box exploded, spewing sticky blue stuff everywhere. Pidge doubled over laughing and ran from the kitchen to grab some towels.  _ On the topic of towels, why don’t I go for a shower? Since the stupid pool in this place is on the ceiling.  _

Quietly slipping from the kitchen, I made my way to the shower.  _ It’s been a few days since I’ve had one of these. I guess with everything happening I never bothered to think about myself.  _

I was about halfway through washing my hair when Allura called everyone down to the healing pods with the emergency alert. 

I quickly threw a towel around my waist, ignored the fact that I still had soap in my hair, and ran to the healing pods.

 

~~

 

“How long did you say Lance had to be in here? Did Keith ask?”

“Shiro, of course Keith asked. I said that Lance still needed a few vargas.”

I nodded my head, “Good, that should be enough time.” Allura nodded her head and looked back to the pod. 

In reality, Lance only had to stay in for a few more ticks.  _ Keith’s vision is clouded right now. Lance needs some time to sort things out without Keith crowding him.  _

“Shiro, just a few more ticks,” Allura said, stepping back from the pod. I did the same.

The door slid open and Lance fell out. I ran forward to catch him so he didn’t hit the floor. 

He was still a bit disoriented, but he was awake nonetheless. 

“Mhmm, Keith? I knew you’d come. . . back. . .” His eyes were half closed and he had a dopey grin plastered across his face. He had some minor scarring, but nothing intense.

I led him over to a chair and set him down, crouching next to it. 

“Hey, buddy. It’s Shiro and Allura. Keith did bring you here though.” His grin went away after that, replaced by a faint smile.

“Oh. . . Shiro. Can I talk- Can I see Keith? He said we could. . . talk when we got back.”

“Yeah, okay. But first, we need to know what happened on the ship. Can you tell us what you remember?”

“Didn’t- Didn’t Keith tell you? Don’t you. . . know?” I looked over to Allura.

“We should probably come back to this later. Let the others know that he’s awake.” Allura nodded and went to make the announcement. 

“Lance, come on. Can you tell me anything?” He seemed to be completely awake now. 

“What more is there to say? I was taken by Lotor, he learned everything about Voltron, made me hurt Keith, and now I’m here.”

“What do you mean, ‘made you hurt Keith?’ What happened? Keith was fine when he came back.”

Lance shook his head, ”No, not physically. But, can I see him now? He said we’d talk when we got back.” 

“Sure, Lance. He’ll be here soon.” Lance nodded and kept his gaze glued on the entrance. 

After the announcement was made, Pidge and Hunk were the first to arrive. They’d only been in the kitchen so they were close.  _ But where’s Keith? I thought he was with them?  _

Despite Pidge and Hunk running over to see how Lance was, he ignored them and kept watching for Keith. 

When Keith did come in, he was only wearing a towel. There was still soap in his hair. 

“Didn’t spare a second to get dressed, did you?” I asked, concerned. 

Keith didn’t say anything and just walked to Lance. 

Lance stood up and wrapped his arms tightly around Keith’s neck. Keith’s shoulders tensed up and he froze. The shocked look on his face confused me. He didn’t hug Lance back either. 

“Well, uh. Lance! Welcome back!” I said, trying to relieve the awkward tension in the room. 

Lance released Keith and blushed slightly. Keith took a few steps back and blushed too.

“Yeah, thanks. Oh, Pidge. The little creatures on that trash planet made you out of trash. I thought that was funny.” 

“Really?! That’s adorable! I don’t remember if I ever told you guys, but when I was there I made some of you out of trash too,” Pidge laughed.

“Well, uh, I’m going to go wash up. Try and get the soap out of my hair.” Keith said, turning to leave.

“Wait! Keith,” Lance started, walking over to Keith, “what about. . .” He turned his head to the side.

“What about what, Lance?” Keith shook his head, “Nevermind, I’m gonna go.”

Lance silently protested but didn’t stop Keith this time.

“What’s up, Lance? Did he say something at the ship?” Hunk asked

Lance scratched his head, “More like something  _ I  _ said. I think he hates me now.”

Pidge chuckled to herself and explained when Lance looked at her in confusion.

“Please, Keith does  _ not  _ hate you. Why would you think that?”

“Well, it’s just that- Nevermind. I’m going to go change if that’s okay?” 

We all nodded collectively. Lance deserved some time to himself.

 

~~

 

“Nevermind, I’m gonna go.” I turned away and left, grateful that Lance didn’t stop me this time.

_ What was that hug about?! I was only wearing a towel, what if it fe- Nope, not even going to go there.  _ I was still trying to process what Lance had said about liking me, I didn’t want to make things more complicated. 

_ Lotor may have been right that I was questioning, but liking Lance doesn’t mean anything. It’s probably just- No, I’ve been over this. I should try to distance myself more, I don’t want things to spiral. _

The walk back to my room was a long one. It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to get to. All of the rooms were in the middle at the top level of the castle.  _ I’m not sure where everyone’s rooms are exactly, but I know that they’re all up here. _

When I reached my door, I rested my head against it.  _ If I’m not careful, Lance will try to talk about it around the others. I bet he just said those things because Lotor made him! That was definitely it! He was forced to say that, it isn’t actually true.  _

I straightened myself out and entered my room, heading right for the shower. As I turned the water back on, I heard a bang at my door.

“Keith?” It was hard to hear over the water, but that was Lance.  _ No, I’ll just ignore him and get in the shower, then he’ll go away.  _

Closing the door to the bathroom, I resumed washing my hair. There were no more calls at the door so I had assumed he went away. 

_ *bang* *bang*  _ “Keith? We need to talk.”

_ Are you serious? He- He’s in my room. Did I put my clothes away? Oh no, I think I left my towel out there.  _

“Lance, go away. I’m taking a shower.”

“Yeah, but you said we could talk. You seem to be running away from me, so here I’ve got you cornered. Especially since your towel is out here.”

_ Damn it. I thought so. _

“Well, I’m not coming out, so I suggest you leave.” There was a moment of pause, then the door started to open.

“No! Get out!”  _ I’ve never been so happy to have a shower curtain before.  _

“I’m not leaving until we talk,” Lance stated simply

“Well, then I guess you’ll be here forever.”

“I have a few responses to that. First of all, you said that we’d talk.  _ You  _ did. I’m just following up on that. And, second, you are in the shower without a towel, and unless you’re some freak who showers with a bathing suit, you’ve got nothing to cover with besides this shower curtain. Last time I checked, shower curtains moved very easily. So how about it?” Dread filled my stomach as he nonchalantly threatened me. 

“Fine,” I said, leaning against the shower wall, “what do you want?” I looked at Lance’s silhouette on the curtain. 

“Okay,” he took a deep breath, “when I said that I liked you on the ship. That’s true. But then again, I don’t see how someone can’t. I mean you-”

“Lance,” I warned.

“Right. Also, I wanted to find out what you meant by ‘We’ll talk about this later.’ You could have said anything, but that was your response.”

That one made me think. _ What _ was _ going through my head when I said that? I couldn’t have said ‘me too’ because I wasn’t sure, and now. . . What does he expect me to say? I should ask him that. _

‘What do you expect me to say?”

“Well, I was hoping something a bit more heartfelt than ‘later.’ I dunno, I just. . . I guess I was hoping. . .” Lance’s outline ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the counter. 

“Get me my towel,” I decided it was best to continue this face-to-face. Lance’s hand appeared, he pushed the curtain aside just enough to hand me the towel.

“Thanks.” I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out, water still dripping from my hair. I heard Lance draw a shaky breath and scoffed instinctively. 

“Sorry it’s just-” Lance tried, cutting himself off. 

Sighing, I clasped both my hands behind my neck and walked into my room. I decided to try something Lance does.  _ I don’t know how else to tell him, so I might as well do it his way.  _

“Hey, Lance?” I started.

“Yeah?”

“What’s hotter than fire?”  _ Oh man, I hope this works. _

“Uhh, what?”

I took a deep breath, “You.” I was still turned around, I didn’t want to see his reaction.

I barely processed what was happening until it had already happened. Lance turned me around and grabbed my face with both of his hands, wrapping his fingers behind my neck and resting his thumbs in front of my ears. He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on my lips, causing my eyes to flutter shut.

He pulled away slowly, I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. He leaned back and starting planting little kisses on my jawline. 

“Lance-” I whispered, “I- I need to put clothes on.”

Without stopping to think, Lance replied, “Why?” He kept kissing my neck, earning a soft moan from me. My eyes flew wide open at his answer and I went rigid. He stopped kissing my neck and looked at me. 

“Oh, crap. That’s not- I’m sorry.” He was blushing furiously. “I should go.”

“No! Lance, stay. I-”

“It’s alright. See you at dinner.”

_ Damn it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out only expect a chapter a day. Two might happen, but I want to try to make them a bit more detailed. :) Thanks so much for reading! Let me know any thoughts or comments. We just about hit 150 hits!


	5. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance feels bad, the team speculates, and Keith goes to see Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting this so late! I got sidetracked by looking at klance comics :D Thanks so much for reading!

“It’s alright. See you at dinner.”  _ That could not have gone worse. Why did I say that?!  _

I quickly left Keith’s room and headed for my own.  _ I never actually changed, I might as well do that now. Also, I wonder if Keith knows that my room is right next to his. . . _

My face still felt hot when I finished putting on my shoes.  _ I hope I don’t have to sit next to Keith for dinner. I wonder if Hunk will trade spots with me.  _

I left my room and started heading down to the kitchen.

“Lance! Wait,” I heard Keith call from behind me. I started walking faster, hoping that I could get to the elevator before him. Unfortunately for me, Keith jogged to catch up. 

“Hey, you’re wearing normal clothes again,” He noticed.

“You are too,” I replied. He looked down at his feet, I could see a faint blush creeping across his cheeks. 

“About back there, it-”

“What? I didn’t mean for it to sound that way.”

He stood up a little straighter and took a deep breath, “No, it’s okay, I just- I wanted to say that it was fine. I was just a bit. . .” He sucked on his teeth, trying to think of the right word to say. 

“Sure,” _ I know that he’s trying to make it better, but it doesn’t change the fact that I got carried away.  _

“No, I mean it. You didn’t mean to say that. . . Right?” Keith asked, playing with the velcro on his gloves. He looked up at me, expecting an answer. 

Looking back at him took my breath away, his hair was still a bit damp and his mouth was just slightly open.

I swallowed, looking away, “Yeah, right. I didn’t mean to say that.” 

By that time, we had made it to the elevator. Both of us went to press the button. Keith was quicker, so I pulled my hand back and waited for the door to open. 

The elevator came up and we stepped in, Keith pressed the button for our floor too. 

“You know, I was just a bit surprised. You didn’t have to leave.” 

“But, I-” I began, “I didn’t mean it. I just made things awkward.”

Keith waited for a tick, then took a little step closer to me. He looked down at my hand but didn’t move to take it. When I decided to reach for his, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I put my hand in my pocket instead. 

When we got to the dining room, they had already started eating. The last two seats were next to each other. 

“Hey, Keith, Lance,” Shiro said, “I see you got caught up?” He asked, setting his spoon down.

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” I replied. Keith didn’t make any moves to respond, so I walked over to the chair next to Hunk and sat down. 

“So, now that everyone is here, I thought it best to discuss our current situation,” Shiro began. “Coran and I have been monitoring the radars for the past few vargas, there is absolutely no sign of any Galran ship. Whatever Lotor is planning, it’s going to take a while. With all of the information he gathered from Lance and Keith, he needs time to plan around weak spots and defenses.” Everyone nodded. That made perfect sense. 

“But when can we expect something?” Keith asked, moving to take his seat next to me.

Shiro took a breath and furrowed his brow, “At the moment, we can’t know anything for sure. Right now the best thing we can do is make sure every system works.” 

“Is it possible that he was bluffing? That there’ll be no attack at all?” I asked, taking a bite of the food Coran brought me. 

“Like I said, there’s no way of knowing until it happens. I know that’s not the ideal answer, but that’s all we know right now.”

The rest of dinner went by relatively quietly, save the few times Keith would lean over and tell me something he’d think of. After one particularly funny joke, I caught Pidge smirking at me while I giggled. She tapped Keith and signaled for him to get closer to her. She cupped a hand around her mouth and whispered something to Keith while staring directly at me. 

After she stopped talking, Keith sat back up and looked at his food for a tick, then back to her. He replied in the same fashion, Pidge kept looking at me. After Keith stopped whispering, he had a faint smile. After processing his words, Pidge’s expression gave her away. 

“Hey, what’d you tell her?” I whispered to Keith.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything.” Something gnawing inside me made me sure that he was lying, but I couldn’t say anything more without Pidge noticing more. Or causing a scene.

Once we were done with dinner, Hunk and Pidge went with Shiro to look at the radars. I decided that it might be nice to get to bed early and headed back to my room. When I got back, I kicked off my shoes and threw my jacket on the floor, doing the same with my jeans. 

I crawled under my covers and closed my eyes. _ I don’t remember my pillow feeling this good. _

 

~~

 

I woke up to knocking at my door. _ Mhmm, what time is it?  _ I rolled out of bed and shuffled to the door. I opened the door but couldn’t see who was there due to the lack of light.

“Who are you and what do you want. I was sleeping.”

Despite being positive that someone knocked, no one answered. I rubbed my face with one of my hands and waved the other one around the space outside my door to see if it collided with anything. My fingers brushed fabric and I grabbed a handful and pulled the person closer.

“Who are you? I can’t see.” I tried again.

The person wrapped their arms low around my waist and whispered in my ear, “You look nice in boxers,”

“Keith?! What are you doing! It’s so late!”

He walked forward, letting the door close behind him.

“Yeah, but I felt like we needed to finish what we started earlier.” He got closer and nuzzled his face against my shoulder.

I giggled nervously, “No matter how good that sounds, it’s still late. You should get some rest.”

“Maybe later,” He whispered, pushing me closer to my bed. 

“Keith, we should go slower.” 

“Lance,” Keith said, stepping back, “just kiss me already. You had no problem doing that earlier,” He teased, poking at my chest. 

“Who sleeps with boxers and a shirt, by the way?”

“I was cold,” I pouted, closing the gap between us.

Keith laughed, looping his arms back around me. He trailed lower this time, sending shivers up my spine. 

I looked down at what he was wearing and scoffed when I noticed he was wearing the same thing. 

“You tease, how dare you question me, then have the same thing on?” I laughed.

He smiled and pulled me in for a kiss, “I was cold.”

We staggered back onto my bed. I fell on top of him and situated my legs so they were on either side of him.

“Are you still cold?” I murmured into his lips.

“Not a chance,” Keith said, pulling me into a deep kiss. 

I moved down so I could kiss his jawline,  _ He seemed to enjoy that last time. _

Sure enough, he was moaning within ticks. 

While I was planting kisses on his neck, he whispered into my ear, “Let’s just do this, tonight. This is-” He cut himself off with a loud moan.

“Shhh, we don’t want people to hear,” I replied, moving back to his lips. Before I could lean back down, he pushed me to the side and turned us over.

“My turn,” He explained with a grin. His left leg was outside of mine, but his right leg was dangerously close to my groin. 

I let out a shaky breath as he trailed up my jaw, “Keith. . .” I moaned.

“Who’s being loud now?” He chuckled, moving back to look at me. He studied my features for a tick, but his eyes landed on my lips. 

I looked up at him, my eyes hazy, “Quit teasing,” Despite my efforts, it came out as a whine. 

“You know, just for that - even despite me wanting not to - I’m not going to kiss you. You were right, it’s getting late.” He moved his right leg up more, quickly brushing, but not for long. He untangled himself and laid down next to me. 

The quick brush caused my breath to hitch, “Oh no, come back here, Kogane. You are not leaving me like this.”

“Shh, I’m sleeping,” He whispered.

I turned myself in response, pressing against him. I planted kisses just below his ear.

“Still sleeping?” I joked as he moaned softly.

“Trying to,” he breathed. 

“Alright,” I nestled my face into his shoulder, “I’ll stop.”  He pushed himself back, earning a soft breath from me.

“I thought you were sleeping?”

“You sound so good when you moan though. . .” 

“Come on, Keith. Pick one.”

“Let’s just do this until we fall asleep.” He breathed, moving a hand back to hold mine.

_ Sounds like a plan. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit shorter. I don't know why, but I had a really difficult time writing it. We just made 175 hits! I'm glad that people are enjoying this :)


	6. Strawberries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lotor's plans change, Keith smells nice, and the story concludes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who read this! I'm glad that it was enjoyed :)

“What are you doing?!” Acxa hissed. “Shouldn’t you be attacking them? This is the perfect opportunity!”

I turned around to face her, “While that is true, and while this is a change in plans, you must understand the circumstances that made this occur.” I chose my words carefully, knowing full well that what I was doing could potentially ruin many things.

“Sure, you found out that two of Voltron’s paladins liked each other and now you’ve decided not to attack them.”

“Ah ah, not  _ yet. _ We still have all of the information needed to destroy them. But right now, I’m interested to see if they become distracted.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Then we’ll be prepared for an attack. Simple.”

“You do realize that this makes every action we took pointless, right? The whole thing. From capturing the red paladin to luring the black paladin, even torturing the red paladin. It was all for nothing!”

“I wouldn’t say ‘nothing’ per se, It was still a warning, and they’re still on edge. If anything, not executing an attack would confuse them even more, giving us the upper hand.”

She opened her mouth to say something but decided against it.

“Acxa, I know that this doesn’t make total sense, but I’m confident that it will work. You must trust me. Make sure to inform the others of the change in plans.”

She sighed and nodded, then turned to exit.

_ Voltron always looks for a reason to fight, they don’t like to step back and wait. Especially their new leader. . . _

 

~~

 

“Are you sure that there’s nothing?” Hunk asked, checking the radars again. “Why would they be waiting?”

“That’s an excellent question, Hunk. So impressive, in fact, that I don’t actually know the answer to it.” Coran replied, busying himself with more maps.

Shiro stepped toward Hunk, trying to formulate a better answer, “The Galra are unpredictable sometimes, we can’t always know when they’re going to do something.”

“I get that, but they were saying how they were going to attack when Lance was still down, and nothing happened. Are they trying to confuse us?”

“That’s probably it,” I chimed in, “the Galra prefer an element of surprise, as we’ve seen before, nothing’s cut-and-dry with them.”

Shiro nodded, “Great observation, Keith.”

“But, we have to take this slow. They’re probably expecting us to go after them. We should just lay low and try to stay away while we figure out more about their plan.’

“Good job, I’m glad that you’re starting to know when to step back,” Shiro smiled.

“Yeah, okay. ‘Great job, Keith’ and all, but what if they are planning something big?” Pidge asked, walking over to join Coran. “I mean, I’m all for thinking things through, but we know how to figure out where they are. Remember the map I put together?”

“That’s a good point, Pidge, but at the moment we just don’t know enough to charge in and attack,” Coran pointed out, “If you ran in there and initiated an attack, who knows what they could come back with?”

Our conversation continued like this, someone would point something out and then another person would bring up a reason as to why it wouldn’t work until everyone collective realized that it had gotten late. Sometime during Our discussion, I noticed that Lance wasn’t there.  _ He must have gone to bed early. _

“Let’s talk more about this tomorrow, everyone should get some rest.”

Everyone agreed and headed off to their own rooms, I went to Lance’s

 

~~

 

I woke up first, but I didn’t want to wake Keith up. I rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom.  _ Shower time!  _

When I got out, Keith was still asleep.  _ How is he still sleeping? Does he usually sleep this long? _

“Hey, Keith,” I said, gently shaking him, “wake up. Keith?” He groaned slightly and cleared his throat.

“Noo, five more minutes.” I chuckled and shook him again.

“Nope, I already took a shower so I don’t have anything to do while I wait for you.”

“Wait, you already took a shower? Come here,” He grabbed my face and pulled me down so he could smell my hair. 

“Weirdo,”

“Shh, you smell like strawberries,”

“Yeah, and you smell like sleep, so get up. You need a shower too.” 

He looked me in the eyes and then pushed me aside, “I’m using the strawberry shampoo!” He declared, dashing for the bathroom. 

“No! Pidge is gonna notice!”

“LET HER NOTICE!” Keith yelled over the shower. 

Eventually, he came back out.  _ Great, now we both smell like strawberries.  _

“Let’s go embarrass everyone at breakfast,” He suggested, walking out the door. 

“Hey, wait! What if someone is-”

“Oh, um. Hey, Keith, Lance. Alright then.” 

I looked from Pidge to Keith with a minorly terrified look on my face.

“Look what you did, this is all your fault.”

“Hey, relax. She already knew.”

“WHAT?! I  _ KNEW  _ you told her at dinner yesterday!”

“Actually, I kind of guessed before then. He was just confirming for me,” Pidge said.

“Nope. Nope nope nope. I’m taking the stairs.”

Keith laughed and ran to catch up after I shoved past him. 

“Hey, look, It’s fine! I just thought it’d be easier if people knew that-”

“That what? We’ve only kissed, like, twice!”

“About that, did you want to-”

“Bad time, Keith.  _ Really  _ bad time.”

“Well, my question still stands. You know what I was going to ask.”

“What’s your condition?”

“What condition? What does that mean?”

“Uh, usually people say ‘I want this’ and the other person is like ‘sure thing.’ What’s your condition?”

“I’ll have to think about that. But are you saying yes?”

“ _ I’ll have to think about that.”  _ I teased, poking him in the ribs. 

 

~~

 

When we got down to the dining room, Pidge had a huge grin on her face. 

“Oh no, what did you do? You said something didn’t you?” Lance asked

Pidge fluttered her eyes innocently and said, “I only told Hunk and Shiro that some  _ strawberries  _ would be nice this morning.”

Next to me, I saw Lance’s face fall. I quickly dragged him to his seat and sat down.

“I want you to know that we didn’t do what you think we did,” I whispered, clarifying our situation for Pidge.

“Oh, yeah? Then why do you both smell like strawberries? I know that’s Lance’s shampoo.”

“Fine, he woke up before me and showered. I woke up after and liked the smell so  _ then  _ I showered. Alone.”

“But you slept next to each other?”

“Pidge! Stop it! We didn’t do anything!”

She got a little closer to my ear and dropped her voice, “The hickeys on your necks say otherwise.”  _ Shit, we forgot about that.  _

I looked over to Lance and adjusted my collar so it covered my neck more. Lance followed suit, moving his hood up a little.

I turned back to Pidge when she started snickering. 

“So  _ not  _ ‘nothing’ then? What  _ did  _ you guys do, then?”

“None of your business,” I muttered, turning to see what Coran had brought for breakfast. It was just green slop like normal,  _ so Pidge didn’t say anything to him, phew _

Coran walked over to Pidge and tapped her on the shoulder, “So sorry, Pidge. I wasn’t able to find anything that smelled like Keith or Lance right now. What did you say it was called?”

I noticed that Lance was about to say something so I kicked him lightly. 

“Don’t,” I whispered, “you’ll just make it worse.”

“They’re called strawberries, Coran. They’re a popular fruit back on Earth.”

“Ah, as is they’re scent, I see?”

“Exactly,” Pidge confirmed, the huge grin still on her face.

“What’s going on down there, all that whispering?”

“Oh, nothing Shiro. Just friendly jokes,” Pidge said before Lance or I could answer.

“Uh huh, sure.” He said, resuming eating.

Having had enough of that, I stood up and walked behind Shiro to leave. Before I walked out, he grabbed my arm, “Hey, Keith. You smell nice today.”

_ Yeah, I’m out of here.  _

 

~~

 

After getting away from breakfast, most things returned to normal. Pidge was still laughing at us, but I had started to ignore that. 

After having a short chat with Shiro, Lance walked up to me.

“Yes,” He said, giving no context.

“Uh, no? What’s happening?” I responded, slightly confused.

“My answer to your question. Yes.”

“Um. . . Oh! The question! Really?”

“Sure, just no more strawberry shampoo.”

“Hmm, well I’ll make that my condition, then,” I said with a proud smile.

“No, no, no. Today can’t happen again!”

“But I like the way it smells. Wouldn’t everything be better if it smelled like strawberries?”

“What if  _ I  _ keep using it? Then you still get to smell it?”

“Hmm,” I said, pretending to think, “How about no?” I turned to walk away, but he pulled me back.

“What about a compromise?”

“Alright, what’s your favorite scent?”

“Well, strawberries. . .”

“Great, then it’s settled! You’re my boyfriend, and I get to smell like strawberries!”

“This isn’t over! I will get you to stop! Just wait!” He called as I walked away.

_ Good luck with that.  _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strawberries are everything now.


	7. [BONUS] Something Worth Fighting For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bonus ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt like this needed a better ending. This isn't much, but it's thought fuel. Thanks for reading this far!

“Wait, so  _ how  _ did you start dating?”

“Uh, well, I was captured by Lotor when I was playing with caterpillar creatures on a trash planet one of my friends got trapped on a while back-”

“Okay, I’m sorry, what?”

“That’s a story for another time, ha ha. Anyway, I was captured and taken onto his ship where he read my mind with a device-”

“Did he, now. How’d he do that?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. But whatever it was worked. So he found out that I had a crush on Keith. Then, of course, Keith tried to come after me alone.”

“What made him do that?”

“I’m not quite sure, he’s kind of  _ driven  _ when it comes to that sort of thing, so he probably thought that his immediate impulse was the best way to go. It wasn’t”

“Yeah, that’s for sure. Do you think you would have started dating if he hadn’t, though?”

“Maybe. I like to believe in that sort of  _ fate _ thing.”

“That’s commendable. Not many people can do that after what you’ve been through.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate that. But, Lotor read his mind, too. I think he learned that Keith was questioning, but I don’t know for sure because I couldn’t hear their conversation and Keith won’t talk about it. Then Lotor found out keith was half Galra-”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I know that Keith is Galra, but it’s just hard to believe.”

“Well, half, but I get where you’re coming from. After Lotor found that out, he threw Keith out the airlock on the ship-”

“What?! Okay, I’ll stop interrupting now, sorry.”

“You’re good. It’s kind of a crazy story, I get it. But before that, Lotor made me tell Keith that I had a crush on him or he’d go out with no suit- Oh yeah, he had his space suit, so he was fine.”

“Oh, good. I was worried for a sec.”

“After that, the Black Lion rescued him, of course, and he went back to - here - the castle. He made a plan with the rest of the team and then came after me. While that was happening, Lotor had brought me to a torture room and beat the living shit out of me- well,  _ he  _ didn’t, he had one of his generals and one of his commanders do it.”

“Damn, is that where you got the scars from?”

“And other various battles, most notably from the Galra. Like that one time a bomb disguised as rover blew up the crystal room. That sucked.”

“Yeah, Keith told me about that one.”

“He did? What did he say?”

“That you guys had a ‘bonding moment’ that you chose to believe didn’t happen but that he secretly - well not much so anymore - cherishes.”

“Aw! Oh yeah, back to the story.”

“Yes!”

“So, I don’t remember much after I blacked out, but I was holding on for Keith. And- I’ll have to stop you there, before you get ahead of yourself. It was not romantic. I was covered in blood and excruciatingly painful cuts and scratches and bruises. It was not a ‘ _ I’ll wait for you, my love. Just save me!’ _ type of thing. It hurt like hell. I didn’t care who was saving me at that point, just so long as I got out of it alive - and don’t tell Keith that, because apparently when he found me, I said some shit like ‘Keith’ll come, just you wait. He knows I love him.’ But obviously much more slurred and sputtery.”

“Naturally.”

“Yeah, so, that was a thing that happened. Then I am told that I was brought back to the cas- oh, wait! I left out the best part!”

“There’s a best part of this story? That sounds pretty macabre.”

“Well, just wait ‘till you hear, man. So, Keith was too distraught to carry me out, so Hunk ran in all macho-man and carried me bridal-style. Again, no recollection of  _ any  _ of this.”

Ha! Really? That’s fantastic!”

See? And if you don’t believe me, you can ask Pidge, Allura, or Keith.”

“I think I’ll take your word for it!”

“So, I healed in a healing pod for a quintent and a few vargas, and Keith was  _ utterly  _ impatient. Which - I must say - is quite adorable, but, hey.”

“Yeah, no, that’s cute.”

“Ha! When I woke up, Shiro was all bad cop and asked me a bunch of things that I didn’t have the attention span to answer, so I shrugged him off and basically just kept saying stuff like ‘ask Keith.’ ‘Keith knows.’ ‘Can I talk to Keith?’ Which made him  _ sooo  _ happy.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that. His ‘I swear I’m calm but if you keep doing that I’ll strangle you’ face, right?”

“Yeah! Exactly! But, Allura called for everyone to come see me, and Pidge and Hunk ran in from the kitchen, but Keith literally stopped in the middle of a  _ shower.  _ I’m talking soap in hair, towel around waist, spared no time type of thing.”

“Jeez, that’s dedication.”

“Truly. So, I hugged him. He went cold and rigid then left pretty much as quickly as he had gotten there. This made me  _ super  _ confused, but it’s Keith, so I let him go.”

“Okay, I get that.”

“Mhmm. I excused myself shortly after because he had said that we’d talk about what I said back on the ship about me liking him.”

“Ah, got a little anxious, huh?”

“Ehh, something like that. I didn’t want to ruin the team-thing that all of us had, so I tried to tred lightly. Well, until- that happens later though.”

“Yeah, plan worked out real well, huh?”

“Shut up. Have you  _ seen  _ him?”

“Sorry dude, I’m not into guys”

“Really? I’ve seen the way you look at Shiro.”

“Fine, but I don’t want to overstep. Plus he has Allura. . .”

“You know, they’re not actually dating. That’s just kind of a team rumor.”

“Good to know. Anyway, continue! We can talk about my dating life later, jerk.”

“Ouch. So, I excused myself and went to go talk to him. When I got to his room, it sounded like he had  _ just  _ turned the water on, so I was hopeful that he’s open the door. He did not. Do you know you know what this forced me to do? It made me do something that both made me  _ inexplicably  _ happy, but also slightly terrified. I went into his room. He had left the door unlocked, bad move on his part, but he did. His fault, it was too easy!”

“Yeah, maybe  _ don’t  _ use that excuse.”

“Point taken. So I walked in - room was a mess - Well, for Keith it was. Seems like a clean guy, he had an entire outfit on the ground - jacket, pants, belt, shoes, socks, underwear - the  _ whole  _ thing. Not to mention, the towel that he had around his waist when I woke up.”

“Oooh, yikes.”

“Right? I knocked on the bathroom door, ‘Keith, we need to talk.’ He was all like, ‘Lance freaking go away. Do you not see that I’m taking a shower?’ Paraphrasing, but I’m sure that it was along those lines. I countered with a line that I’m pretty proud of, so I remember it like it was yesterday, ‘Yeah, but you said we could talk. You seem to be running away from me, so here I’ve got you cornered. Especially since your towel is out here.’”

“Wow! That is really good. Way to go, past Lance.”

“Thanks, dude. I know, I know. Anyway, he had made the same mistake again - this guy and unlocked doors you’d think he has an aversion to them or something.”

“Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying? Lance! You walked in on him while he was in the  _ shower _ ?!”

“In my defense, shower curtains exist.”

“No! Personal boundaries! No wonder he says you’re clingy.”

“Heyy, not cool.”

“Is that a bad thing though? If anything, Keith seems like he needs  _ more  _ human contact, not less. You’re a blessing in disguise for him.”

“Okay, I don’t know whether to feel upset or happy about that, so I’ll just ask Keith about it later. Thanks - by the way.”

“No problem, it’s kinda my thing.”

“Yeah, I see that. So, we talked about what I said. How it was true, how I couldn’t see how anyone  _ couldn’t  _ like him, how I wished that he’d been more heartfelt than ‘we’ll talk later.’

Then he told me to get his towel. Now, I didn’t know if he was going to punch me, leave  _ his _ room, or talk to me, but I complied because it was the least I owed him. I had gotten him captured by the Galra on my behalf, got him shot into space, made him worry about me, and now I was standing in the same room as him while he was naked behind a cloth curtain.”

“Man, if no one knew about your relationship, people would think that you just really hated him.”

“I mean, I thought that I did for a while. Maybe that’s just how I acclimate. I don’t know, I’ve never really gotten past the whole ‘Hey, name’s Lance [cheesy pickup line]’”

“Wow, you actually know that they’re bad?”

“I mean, they never work, but they add character. I think they’re good, but. . .”

“Yeah, wake up call: they suck. Nothing against you, but would you go out with some stranger who walks up to you and asks you if you want to see how fast they can climb a tree?”

“Okay, ow. I asked Keith that and look where we are now. Come to think of it, I’ve never actually shown him. . .”

“Well, just saying, it’s not your best feature.”

“And what is?”

“Ask Keith, more story.”

“Fine, Mr. Impatient.”

“Shush, story.”

“I got it, I got it!”

“Then get to it!”

“I- hm. Where was I? Oh yeah, towels. He pushed the curtain aside and stepped out of the shower, keep in mind that he was still dripping. Why didn’t he use the towel to dry off? No clue, so, dripping Keith. Naturally, I was thinking  _ daaaamnnn.  _ He scoffed at me, I apologised, OH! THEN. HMMM. Okay,  **_then,_ ** he said. Get this, you listening? Listen close, he said-”

“Lance.”

“Yeah, he said ‘What’s hotter than fire’  _ Uhh, lots of things?  _ ‘What’ THEN. HE. SAYS. ‘You.’ THIS GUY. Okay, I’m good.”

“Well, he took a page from your book.”

“Many pages, but we don’t talk about that with other people if you catch my drift.”

“Okay, gross. I did  _ not  _ need to know - or picture - that  _ at all.” _

“Haaa. Of course, I crossed the room and just - I. . . Do you know what I mean?”

“Considering you said approximately no words explaining, no.”

“Well, then. Aren’t you just picky.”

“Not really, actually. You just seem to want to neglect to say that you made out with an immediately post-shower Keith while he was only wearing a towel.”   
“You did know!”

“They don’t call me perceptive for nothing, Lancey.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sorry, Lancey.”

“Remind me to kill you.”

“Not gonna happen, Lancey “

“Seriously. Well, what you said. But. . . ughh I still regret saying this. He said that he had to change - while I was still kissing him - and because I hadn’t kissed any living - or nonliving - thing in a  _ very,  _ like I mean a  **_very_ ** long time, and I was a bit dazed, I said ‘Why?’”

“Oh jeez. That may have been the worst thing you could have said - well, there’s like  _ one  _ thing that could have been worse.”

“What?”

“If you’d’ve been like ‘No, how about take the towel  _ off _ .’ But you’re not like that, so - for you - probably the worst thing.”

“Way to make me feel better.”

“I’m not sorry.”

“You  _ should _ be. In my humiliation, I left immediately. He protested slightly, but I left anyway. He assures me that I just spooked him and that he would have laughed it off and let me stay, but I would have still been humiliated. Since I hadn’t changed out of my healing pod outfit yet, I retreated to my room to wear my normal clothes. I left and headed for dinner. For once, it’s unfortunate that my room is next to his.”

“What makes it fortunate?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. And even if you did, I wouldn’t tell you. That’s how much you shouldn’t know.”

“I trust you, nasty.”

“Stop insulting me! I get it, I’m a horrible, gross, person!”

“You are. I’m glad that you’ve finally noticed, now all I have to do is get Keith to notice.”

“Fuck off.”

“Now who’s being mean?”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too, buddy.”

“But, yeah. He caught up to me and commented on how I was wearing normal clothes again. I did the same - cementing what I’d said. He seemed a bit flustered. He said that he was only startled and that it was okay.”

“Really? Did he? Are you sure we’re talking about the same Keith?”

“Unless he’d been replaced,  _ yes _ .”

“Wow, alright. Continue.”

“After that, We went down to dinner, ate, talked about an impending attack -  _ that never actually came  _ \- and how to prepare for it. Keith whispered something to Pidge, I decided to retire early. Everyone else went to the deck to look at radars, though.”

“What did he say to Pidge?”

“Getting there, I found out a bit later, so so will you.”

“Fantastic.”

“You’re welcome. Anway, got to my room, took off my pants, shoes, socks, and jacket.  _ I  _ actually. . . Wait! I’m such a hypocrite! I threw my clothes on the floor!”

“Wow. Disappointed.”

“Rightfully so. Then, I slept. Well, tried to. About I don’t know how much later,  _ someone  _ knocked on my door and woke me up. I got up, answered the door, pulled  _ them  _ inside so I could see  _ them  _ better. It was Keith.”

“Of course. What did he want?”

“To ‘finish what we started earlier.’”

“Ooh, saucy.”

“Never say that again.”

“Make me. Saucy.”

“You’re going to kill me.”

“ **_Saucy_ ** .”

“Hnnnggg. Before I knew who it was, they pulled me close to them and whispered ‘you look nice in boxers.’”

“Need I say it again?”

“Please don’t”

“Sau-”

“ANYWAY, he then proceeded to make fun of me wearing a shirt with my boxers - he was wearing the same thing - lot’s of kissing and such ensued. I’ll spare you the details. It’s awkward talking to a friend about that stuff.”

“Why?”

“I dunno. It just feels weird.”

“Understandable, I’m sort of the same way with dating.”

“Yeah, about that. You and Shiro should totally-”

“Get back to the kissing.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Who else has listened to you tell this story?”

“Pidge.”

“See? You ne- Wait, someone actually listened?”

“She wanted to know my side of it.”

“Well, I’m sorry for underestimating you. Continue with the seemingly fantastical events.”

“Boo. Kissing and teasing and blah blah. We didn’t go very far. All clothes that were brought into the equation stayed put. Nobody passed ‘go’ or collected 2,000 dollars.”

“Really?”

“Sorry to say. It pretty much stopped after teasing went to level 5 and I was like ‘shtap it.’ So he, being the huge tease he is, stopped. Wild concept.”

“Is there a good synonym for ‘tease?’ I mean, how can you keep talking about the same thing with only one word. . . It gets kind of repetative.”

“But, yeah. We kind of just fell asleep after than.”

“‘Annoy’? No, too sibling-y. . . ‘Badger’? Eh, too rude. . . Oooh, what about ‘tantalize’? It’s sexy yet a good synonym for ‘tease.’”

“Are you listening?”

“Are you? I’m actively expanding your vocabulary!”

“Thanks for that, Shakespeare.”

“I hold you welcome dear, Lance.”

“I didn’t actually mean that you had to turn into him.”

“tis too late, I has't already begun the process.”

“Oh God. Alright. Well, you’ll enjoy this part.”

“Wilt I? Wherefore?”

“Are you even speaking English now?”

“What doth thee peg me for?”

“Well, we both slept. In the same bed. One may say that we slept together. But we just. . . slept. Next to each other.”

“Point taken.”

“I woke up before he did, showered, woke him up. He insisted that he showered using the same shampoo I use-”

“Which is?”

“A very perfumed strawberry scent. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Nope!”   
“Well, that makes one.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see. So, after we’d both showered, Keith, being the confident bastard he is, decided to swing the door open so anyone outside could see both of us - and my pile of clothing still on the ground. Who was standing there, you ask? PIDGE. PIDGE WAS THERE. ‘It’ll be fine, no one’s gonna see,’ PIDGE SAW. This is when I learned that Keith had confirmed with Pidge the night before that I had kissed him. That’s what they were whispering about. In front of everyone. Pidge is something else.”

“Ha! That’s an understatement!”

“Yeah, you’d know.”

“What happened next?”

“Well, we made it down to breakfast, but she made it before us and had been talking all about  _ strawberry this,  _ and  _ strawberry that _ . Coran even came out and said that he had nothing that smelled like Keith or I in the kitchen, and ‘what was it called, again?” Again, in front of everyone. Oh, wait. Before we got to breakfast, Keith asked me if I wanted to be his boyfriend.”

“Did you say yes? Is that where the story ends?”

“Not quite yet. Keith got up to leave, Shiro said ‘Keith, you smell nice.’ That was kind of funny. A little bit later, I waited for Keith to be at least kind of alone and said ‘yes.’”

“Aw, that’s cute.”

“No. It wasn’t. I literally walked up to him and just said ‘yes.’ It was dumb.”

“Did he have a condition?”

“As a matter of fact, yes! He made it so that he gets to always use my shampoo. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, you haven’t exactly been here long, but we have hair that smells the same.”

“Yeah, I’m known to be rather observant, but I’ve never noticed that. Are you sure he still does it?”

“Ooohhh yeah. He makes a point of it. Every. Time. He. Showers.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Well, since then we’ve gotten a lot closer. . . you know.”

“Blegh. Stop you right there.”

“Yeah. Well, thanks for listening, Matt. It’s nice to have you here.”

“Thanks! I enjoyed the story. Be sure to tell me that one about the fake Rover soon, okay?”

“You know it almost killed me?”

“Yikes. Might have to ask Keith about that one.”

“Ha ha! I guess so. Well, I’ll get out of your hair. Pidge probably wants to talk to you now.”

“Not that she has enough already.”

“Oh, let her be. She hasn’t seen you in a while, let her absorb. She’s just making up for lost time. Oh, hey, by the way, do you know where she got the name ‘Pidge’ from, anyway?”

“No clue. Maybe she could tell you.”

“Alright, well. See ya, Matt.”

“Bye, Lancey.”

“Boo.”

“Ahh!”

“HA!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmmmmm MATT. Okay but seriously. That's all. Go home. No more. 
> 
>  
> 
> I promise.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry if it was bad. If this is liked a new part will be up soon


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